The Symbolism Of COVID-19 And Its Message For Humanity

Humanity is at a place where it’s being asked to take part in a significant shift. The current focal point for this shift entered our lives in December 2019, with the discovery of a new coronavirus, COVID-19. From that moment, anxiety overwhelms as jobs are lost with people and cities in social ‘shut-down’, leaving everyone waiting with bated breath for what’s coming next. The state of the future is unknown.

If one thing history has taught us, humanity has persevered through hardship by remembering the truth of its nature, the truth of its divinity, and by coming together collectively to harbinger building new foundations for a healthier world. I work in the front lines as an Emergency Room nurse. I see people, young and old, sick and “not sick”, arriving to my work community for help. They are scared. They want answers. Most of them have minor symptoms and are told to go home, but some of them are on respirators waiting for hope they may never find.

As modern medicine races to find solutions to this virus, I look to this virus for its embedded message for us. While crisis is an unpleasant, yet often effective teacher, this pandemic has the power to call forth wisdom, spiritual energies and yearnings long thought banished.

The above illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shows the ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the coronavirus. One thing of particular note is the red spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus. These spikes are known as spike proteins that assemble to form the distinctive “corona”, or crown-like appearance on the surface of the virus. Upon looking at the COVID-19 spike proteins, they appear as equilateral triangles.

The basis of this whole pandemic, and the following account of my words, revolve around the symbol of the triangle. Life is symbolic, so let’s start interpreting.

The triangle is a versatile symbol

The triangle is an extremely universal and divine ancient symbol that manifests a wide variety of trinities. The concept of two feet on the earth and one heart in heaven, the holy trinity, past, present, and future, the body-mind-spirit connection, or Love, Truth, and Wisdom. In science, the triangle indicates change. While I choose to believe in the benevolence of the universe, I see this as a symbol for rising up, something being manifested, illuminated, or integrated into the current matrix of humanity. However, as such, it may involve us asking some tough questions.

Are we living in balance?

The equilateral triangle is such because it means that all sides are equal. To be equal means to live in a state of equality, harmony and balance. Certainly this new pandemic tipped the scale and is shining a light where we are out of balance in our physical health, our social aspects, businesses, our world financial scene, and our civic duties, not to mention our resources (think toilet paper). Are we using our resources well, are we hoarding them, hiding them, or are we ready to understand we already have enough to offer to someone else in need?

Individually we have the opportunity to balance out the scales – to respond to culture in positive ways when things get crazy. I’ve experienced people in their private catering businesses making food for the nurses at my hospital and I even had a local carpenter send us a bag of masks, saying he thought we could use them more than he. As individuals, we absolutely set the agenda for our own lives, and when everything seems to be going in one crazy direction, we have the power to put on the breaks and choose to balance it with honor, compassion, and humanness.

Yes, we’re all impacted. Even more so than in “normal” times, this is the time to seek balance. When things go sideways, we often look to external distractions to find ways to prop ourselves back up or we find ourselves watching too much news and TV, which can throw us into an anxiety tailspin. In this time of crisis, I encourage you to find new ways to renew yourself, both physically and spiritually. Get outside and take a walk. Turn off your TV and meditate. This is an opportunity to go within and acknowledge with brutal honesty the dire needs of the world and determine how you can shine your light to offer your greatest contribution. This could mean donating blood or nonperishable food items or buying gift cards from locally owned businesses forced to shut down in order to ensure they reopen.

Are we speaking our truth?

How do we speak and verbalize our truth? We use our lungs to inspire and exhale through our vocal cords, causing voice. It’s been reported that COVID-19 infects the human respiratory epithelial cells, the cells that line the respiratory tract. Now I don’t believe that not speaking our truth means we’ve caused COVID to happen. I don’t believe that things are always that linear. However, I do believe that life is a parable, a symbolism of higher truth.

Are we being honest about global warming, the levels of carbon dioxide and plastics in our oceans? Scientists at the Smithsonian state “In the past 200 years alone, ocean water has become 30 percent more acidic—faster than any known change in ocean chemistry in the last 50 million years”. I know in the human body that too much acid is lethal. It can cause seizures and death. Can we be honest about the state of our world’s health, about where we are today, and where we want to take the health of our world tomorrow?

If Mother Earth were my patient, I’d say she was living with a toxic overload on the verge of a breakdown. I’d say her immune system is in full defense mode and she needs healing. The truth is our Earth needs more light and love to shine unto this world. True reform must be tackled fiercely and strategically throughout institutional structures that are slowly and painstakingly causing people, the planet, and all living beings to suffer. As a writer and a healer, I believe we can change the world through speaking our truth, through expressing as clearly as possible what is happening, and this starts in our own circles.

This is an opportunity to Δ change life for the better

In the darkness of today, we are asked to find the light that brings us to the recognition of the common-hood in spiritual things, the same as we already recognize common-hood in scientific things. What changes for one, changes for all. The triangle symbolizes how working together can unite people. It represents getting to the highest point of a change that begins with going inward and finding the divine truth of our nature and the truth of our divinity. We are divine beings capable of healing, empowered to co-create, and lead with strategic vision.